Herodotus on Asychis

According to Herodotus, Menkaure was succeeded by Asychis. However, it is not clear that Shepsekaf (son of Menkaure) and Asychis were indeed one and the same. For a start, Asychis supposedly built a brick pyramid, but this building technique was not used until the Middle Kingdom.

Diodorus Siculus mentions a King named Sasychis, who ruled in the second dynasty and was a great lawgiver. It is possible that he is the source for Asychis placed him in the wrong time-period. Others suggest that Asychis was Sheshonq I (based on the Greek rendering of the pharaoh's name as Asa-ix.t), but he was a twenty-second dynasty pharaoh!

Herodotus claims that Asychis established a system whereby loans could be granted using the family tomb as security. He also built a gateway for the temple of Hephaistos (Ptah).